Today is the last day of in-person early voting. Find your correct polling booth here. Check out CityBeat’s endorsements here.

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted is under fire for
alleged voter suppression once again. In response to recent court
rulings on provisional ballots, Husted sent out a directive on Nov. 2 that shifts the burden of proper identification during the provisional ballot process from poll workers to voters. The directive may not even be legal, according to a lawsuit
quickly filed by voters’ rights activists in response to the new rule:
“Ohio Rev. Code § 3505.181(B)(6) provides that, once a voter casting a
provisional ballot proffers identification, ‘the appropriate local
election official shall record the type of identification provided, the
social security number information, the fact that the affirmation was
executed, or the fact that the individual declined to execute such an
affirmation and include that information with the transmission of the
ballot.’”

President Barack Obama was at the University of Cincinnati yesterday to make a closing argument
to Ohioans. In his speech, Obama compared his own ideas and policies to
those of Bill Clinton, while comparing Mitt Romney’s ideas and policies
to those of George W. Bush. With just two days of voting left, all eyes
are on Ohio as it could play the decisive role in the presidential election. In aggregate polling, Obama is up 2.9 points in Ohio and 0.4 points nationally. FiveThirtyEight, The New York Times’ election forecast model, has Obama at an 86.8 percent chance to win Ohio and an 86.3 percent chance to win the election.

Early voters packed polling places around the state
yesterday. The line around the Hamilton County Board of Elections
wrapped around the entire building for much of the day. Butler County had a lot of early voters
as well. Early voting was only available to all Ohioans yesterday
thanks to a lawsuit from Obama and Democrats, which opened up in-person
early voting during the weekend and Monday before Election Day despite strong opposition from state Republicans.

Early results from air quality tests show no signs of pollution near shale gas drilling wells. But the results are early, and more tests are ongoing. CityBeat wrote in-depth about fracking and concerns surrounding the process here.

The deadline for Ohio’s exotic animal registration is today.
The new requirement came about after an Ohio man released 50 exotic
animals, including some dangerous predators, shortly before committing
suicide in 2011.

The last debate for Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat took place last
night. The debate between Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown and
Republican challenger Josh Mandel mostly covered old ground, but the
candidates did draw contrasting details on keeping Social Security
solvent. Mandel favored raising the eligibility age on younger generations, while Brown favored
raising the payroll tax cap. Currently, Brown leads
Mandel in aggregate polling by 5.2 points.

Mitt Romney was in town yesterday. In his speech, he
criticized the president’s policies and campaign rhetoric and touted
support for small businesses. The Cincinnati visit was the first stop of
a two-day tour of Ohio, which is the most important swing state in the
presidential race. But senior Republican officials are apparently
worried Romney has leveled off in the state, which could cost Romney the
Electoral College and election. President Barack Obama is
expected to visit Cincinnati on Halloween. In aggregate polling, Obama
is ahead in Ohio by 2.1 points, and Romney is up nationally by 0.9
points.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio says the
use of seclusion rooms in Ohio schools should be phased out
by 2016. The Ohio Department of Education and Ohio Board of Education
are currently taking feedback on a new policy draft that says schools
can only use seclusion rooms in cases of “immediate threat of physical
harm,” but the policy only affects traditional public schools, not
charter schools, private schools or educational service centers.
Seclusion rooms are intended to restrain children who become violent,
but recent investigations found the rooms are used to punish children or
as a convenience for staff. Currently, Ohio has no state laws
overseeing seclusion rooms, and the Department of Education and Board of
Education provide little guidance and oversight regarding seclusion
rooms.

An economist at PNC Financial Services Group says 10,000 jobs will be added in Cincinnati in 2013.

Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble has new details
about its effort to reduce costs and make operations more productive.
The company announced a “productivity council” that will look at “the
next round of productivity improvements.” The company also said it will
reach 4,200 out of 5,700 job cuts by the end of October as part of a $10
billion restructuring program announced in February.

New water infrastructure seeks to be cheaper, more sustainable

As cities rush to solve major problems with water
infrastructure, newer technologies are being touted by city agencies as
cheaper, cleaner solutions. In two different local projects, the
Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati (MSD) and a City
Council task force are looking into green ways to solve the city’s water
needs.

On Wednesday, CityBeat covered some of the benefits and downsides
of green water infrastructure. According to the report reviewed
Wednesday, green water infrastructure is cheaper and does create a boon
of jobs, but it faces some funding and education problems. However, it
was unclear how the green ideas would translate into Cincinnati.

Tony Parrott, executive director of MSD, says despite the
challenges, green infrastructure is clearly the cheaper option. The
organization is partnering with local organizations to adopt a series of
new projects — among them, green roofs, rain gardens, wetlands — to meet a new
federal mandate that requires MSD to reduce the amount of sewer overflow
that makes it into local rivers and streams.

“That is a very costly mandate,” he says. “Our belief is
that green infrastructure and sustainable infrastructure will allow us
to achieve a lot of those objectives a lot cheaper than your
conventional deep tunnel systems or other gray type of infrastructure.”

Of course, conventional — or “gray” — infrastructure still
has its place, but adopting a hybrid of green and gray infrastructure
or just green infrastructure in some areas was found to be cheaper in
MSD analyses, according to Parrott.

Plans are already being executed. On top of the smaller
projects that slow the flow of storm water into sewer systems, MSD is
also taking what Parrott calls a “large-scale approach to resurrect or
daylight former streams and creeks that were buried over 150 years ago.”
This approach will rely on the new waterways to redirect storm water so
it doesn’t threaten to flood sewers and cause sewer overflow, Parrott
says.

The programs are being approached in a “holistic way,”
according to Parrott. MSD intends to refine and reiterate on what works
as the programs develop. However, that comes with challenges when
setting goals and asking for funding.

“We think that if you’re going to use a more integrated
approach, it may require us to ask for more time to get some of these
projects done and in the ground and then see how effective they are,”
Parrott says.

If it all plays out, the ongoing maintenance required by
the green approach could be good for the local economy, according to
Parrott: “With the green and sustainable infrastructure, you’re creating
a new class of what we call green jobs for maintenance. The majority of
those jobs are something local folks can do as opposed to the
conventional process.” Additionally, the green jobs also tend to benefit
“disadvantaged communities” more than conventional jobs, according to
Parrott.

The argument is essentially what Jeremy Hays, chief strategist for state and local initiatives at Green For All, told CityBeat
on Wednesday. Since the green jobs require less education and training,
they’re more accessible to “disadvantaged workers,” according to Hays:
“They require some training and some skills, but not four years’ worth
because it’s skills that you can get at a community college or even on
the job.”

While MSD fully encourages the use of rain barrels,
recycling will not be a top priority for MSD’s programs. Instead, that
priority goes to the Rainwater Harvesting Task Force, a City Council
task force intended to find ways to reform the city’s plumbing code to
make harvesting and recycling rainwater a possibility.

Bob Knight, a member of the task force, says there is
already a model in place the city can use. The task force is looking
into adopting the International Green Construction Code (IGCC) in
Cincinnati. The code will “prescriptively tell” architects and engineers
how to design a rainwater harvesting system. In other words, IGCC would
set a standard for the city.

Deciding on this code was not without challenges. At
first, the task force wasn’t even sure if it could dictate how rainwater
is harvested and recycled. The first question Knight had to ask was,
“Who has that authority?” What it found is a mix of local agencies —
Greater Cincinnati Water Works, MSD and Cincinnati Department of
Planning — will all have to work together to implement the city’s new
code.

The task force hopes to give its findings to Quality of
Life Committee, which is led by Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls, by the end of
November.

Annual conference promotes sustainable urban water programs

Ohioans might not
give it much thought outside of paying the water bill, but better water
infrastructure can make cities more efficient, healthier and cleaner.
That’s why Green For All, a group that promotes clean energy
initiatives, is now focusing on cleaner, greener water infrastructure.

A little-known green conference took place in
Cincinnati Oct. 15-17. The Urban Water Sustainability Leadership Conference was in
town on those three days, and it brought together leaders from around
the U.S. to discuss sustainable water programs for cities. The
conference mostly focused on policy ideas, success stories and
challenges faced by modern water infrastructure.

For Green For All, attending the conference was about
establishing one key element that isn’t often associated with water and
sewer systems: jobs. Jeremy Hays, chief strategist for state and local
initiatives at Green For All, says this was the focus for his
organization.

Hays says it’s important for groups promoting better water
infrastructure to include the jobs aspect of the equation. To Hays,
while it’s certainly important for cities to establish cleaner and more
efficient initiatives, it’s also important to get people back to work.
He worries this side of water infrastructure policies are “often left
out.”

He points to a report released by Green For All during
last year’s conference. The report looked at how investing the $188.4
billion suggested by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to manage
rainwater and preserve water quality in the U.S. would translate into
economic development and jobs: “We find that an investment of $188.4
billion spread equally over the next five years would generate $265.6
billion in economic activity and create close to 1.9 million jobs.”

To accomplish that robust growth and job development, the
report claims infrastructure would have to mimic “natural solutions.” It
would focus on green roofs, which are rooftop areas with planted
vegetation; urban tree planting; rain gardens, which are areas that use
vegetation to reduce storm water runoff; bioswales, which are shallow,
vegetated depressions that catch rainwater and redirect it; constructed
wetlands; permeable pavements, which are special pavements that allow
water to pass through more easily; rainwater harvesting, which uses rain
barrels and other storage devices to collect and recycle rainwater; and
green alleys, which reduce paved or impervious surfaces with vegetation
that reduces storm water runoff.

The report says constructing and maintaining these sorts
of programs would produce massive growth, especially in comparison to
other programs already supported by presidential candidates and the
federal government: “Infrastructure investments create over 16 percent
more jobs dollar-for-dollar than a payroll tax holiday, nearly 40
percent more jobs than an across-the-board tax cut, and over five times
as many jobs as temporary business tax cuts.”

Hays says the jobs created also don’t have barriers that
keep them inaccessible to what he calls “disadvantaged workers”: “A lot
of these jobs that we’re focused on in infrastructure, especially green
infrastructure, are much more accessible. They require some training and
some skills, but not four years’ worth because it’s skills that you can
get at a community college or even on the job.”

Beyond jobs, Green For All supports greener infrastructure
due to its health benefits. Hays cited heat waves as one example. He
says the extra plants and vegetation planted to support green
infrastructure can help absorb heat that’s typically contained by
cities.

Hays’ example has a lot of science to stand on. The extra
heating effect in cities, known as the urban heat island effect, is
caused because cities have more buildings and pavements that absorb and
contain heat, more pollution that warms the air and fewer plants that
enable evaporation and transpiration through a process called
evapotranspiration. The EPA promotes green roofs in order to help combat
the urban heat island effect.

Hays says green infrastructure also creates cleaner air
because trees capture carbon dioxide and break it down to oxygen. The
work of the extra trees can also help reduce global warming, although
Hays cautions that the ultimate effect is probably “relatively small.”

But those are only some of the advantages Hays sees in
green infrastructure. He says green infrastructure is more resilient
against volatile weather events caused by global warming. With green
infrastructure, storm water can be managed by systems that collect and
actually utilize rainwater to harvest clean water. Even in a world
without climate change, that storm water management also reduces water
contamination by reducing sewer overflow caused by storm water floods,
according to Hays.

However, green infrastructure is not without its problems.
Hays acknowledges there are some problems with infrastructure systems
that require more year-over-year maintenance: “The green and
conventional approach is more cost effective over time, but the way you
have to spend money is different. So we need to look at the way we
finance infrastructure, and make sure we keep up with innovative
technologies.”

Specifically, green infrastructure relies less on big
capital investments and more on ongoing maintenance costs. Hays insists
the green infrastructure saves money in the long term with efficiency
and by making more use out of natural resources, and the Green For All
report supports his claim. But it is more difficult to get a city or
state legislator to support long-term funding than it is to get them to
support big capital expenditures, Hays says.

Education is also a problem. To a lot of people, the green
infrastructure on rooftops and other city areas might seem like “pocket
parks,” says Hays. But these areas are nothing
like parks; they are meant to absorb and collect rainwater. If the
public isn’t educated properly, there could be some confusion as to why
the supposed “pocket parks” are flooded so often. Providing that
education is going to be another big challenge for public officials
adopting green infrastructure, according to Hays.

So what, if anything, is Cincinnati doing to adopt these
technologies? In the past, city legislators have looked into rainwater
harvesting systems, but not much information is out there. On Thursday, CityBeat will talk to city officials to see how Cincinnati is moving forward.

The first of three debates for Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat is
today. Incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican challenger Josh
Mandel will meet for the first time to prove who has the better vision
for the state. Democrats have repeatedly criticized Mandel for
dishonesty and dodging questions. Republicans have criticized Brown for
supporting President Barack Obama’s policies, including the auto bailout
and Obamacare. A more substantive analysis of the candidates’
differences can be found here. In aggregate polling, Brown currently
leads by five points. The debate will be at 12:30 p.m. on C-SPAN.

Paul Ryan, the Republican candidate for vice president,
will be in Cincinnati today. Ryan’s event will take place at Lunken
Airport at noon. Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, was
in Lebanon Saturday. With the second presidential debate between
President Barack Obama and Romney tomorrow, both campaigns are turning
up the events in Ohio, a state that is widely considered a must-win for both candidates. According
to aggregate polling, Obama still holds Ohio by 2.2 points despite a
nationwide post-debate bounce in the polls for Romney.

Bicyclists rejoiced Saturday as McMillan Street was
converted back into a two-way street. William Howard Taft Road will
undergo a similar transition Oct. 20. The conversion of both roads came
thanks to the approval of Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls, who pushed the
motion in order to revitalize the business sector in the neighborhood.

The rest of Ohio’s school report card data will be
released Wednesday. The report card data grades schools to see how
school districts are doing in a variety of categories. The release for
the data was initially delayed due to an ongoing investigation by the
state auditor that’s looking into accusations of attendance reporting
fraud at some school districts. Previously, the state auditor released
preliminary findings criticizing some school districts and the Ohio
Department of Education for some findings regarding attendance fraud.

A new report found Cincinnati still has a lot of work to
do. The city ranked No. 10 out of 12 similar cities. Cincinnati excelled
in job creation and housing opportunities, but it did poorly in
categories regarding migration and age.

Bob Taft, former Republican governor of Ohio, is going
green. The Ohio Environmental Council is rewarding Taft for
standing up for the environment during his gubernatorial term.

Former GOP governor from Cincy now hailed as Mr. Conservation

When Bob Taft left the governor’s office in 2007, he was
seen as little more than a pompous bumbler. His two terms ended with a
conviction on a misdemeanor ethics crime for failing to report free golf
outings. He was the epitome of a country club Republican, a patrician
who played but didn’t pay, a rajah who blamed his aides for failing to
mention on ethics filings that his greens fees were gifts. Meanwhile, a
major scandal involving rare coin investment contracts with a
well-connected supporter from Toledo was roiling the state workers’
compensation insurance fund. That crime smelled like like pay to play in
the Taft Administration. And Taft’s poll numbers were deep in the pits —
he was rated the most unpopular governor in the United States. Many
Ohioans viewed Taft as a pol who was at his best only when the going was
good. Now he’s on the road to a comeback of sorts.The
Taft years are getting a second look, and out of it emerge a different
image, that of a governor with a sensible environmental policy. For
example, who noticed that he tried to stop Asian carp from invading our
waterways nearly a decade ago — an invasionthat has come true.

Next month, the state’s most important
environmental/conservation organization plans to give Taft its award for
lifetime achievement as a consistent backer of policies and programs
for clean air and water. So the governor who skipped his green fees is
being recognized as Mr. Green. The Ohio Environmental Councilsays it will bestow the honor Nov. 10 at its annual “Green Gala” in Columbus.

Taft is being seen in hindsight as the kind of R who
wasn’t afraid of standing up for the environment. That is a rarity in
today’s GOP, where Rush Limbaugh routinely denounces tree-huggers as
enviro-fascists, and the EPA is widely portrayed as a jobs-killing
hydra. Of course, few remember that Republican President Richard Nixon
created the EPA. Nor do they seem to recollect that Teddy Roosevelt —
when he wasn’t hunting elephants or elk — is the patriarch of the
national park system.

Taft gets credit for taking on his own party, which recently considered tapping water from the Great Lakes. He had supportedstrictlimits
on withdrawing water from Great Lakes feeder streams for industrial and
mining purposes — those streams replenished Lake Erie. Taft believed
the Great Lakes were resources that needed more protection from special
interests; they did not need more abuse and exploitation.

Taft also favored reauthorization of the federal Clean
Water Act, and he wanted Superfund legislation fixed to add so-called
“brown fields,” which were old industrial sites that could be cleaned
and put back into use as commercial real estate. He supported an energy
policy that would have 25 percent of all U.S. energy coming from
renewable sources by 2025. He pushed natural gas companies to set aside
funds to help low income families pay their heating bills.

As far back as 2003, Taft was urging governors and
Congress to take drastic action to stop the spread of the Asian carp,
the giant jumping fish that now are in the Ohio River near Cincinnati.
He called such invasive species “perhaps the most serious and
potentially destructive threat” to Ohio’s natural ecosystem. His warning
about all the invaders came too true. Since then, Emerald Ash Borers
have appeared and destroyed too much of Ohio’s forestland. And Asian
longhorn beetles are on the march in Clermont County, where the
Department of Natural Resources and Forest Service have drawn battle
lines against the pest. Taft worried about water pollution, too. He said
too many beaches were closed from bacteria and sewage, and he saw the
solution as “not better information about when to close the beach, it’s
not having to close the beach in the first place.”

So Taft is getting a thoughtful reappraisal. He may have
been comfortable at play on the country clubs. But his reputation is
coming back from low ebb.

Romney campaign, Murray Energy dispute who made call to close mine for event

Earlier this month presumed Republican presidential
candidate Mitt Romney appeared at a coal mine in Beallsville, Ohio to denounce
President Barack Obama’s “war on coal” against a powerful backdrop: hundreds of
coal miners dusted with the black powder that their work entails.

But what wasn’t made apparent at the time is that those
workers were pulled from the mines prematurely and not paid for the time they
didn’t work.

According to emails and phone calls received by WWVA-AM West
Virginia talk show host David Blomquist, miners said they were told that
attendance at the Romney event would be mandatory and unpaid.

As first reported by The Plain Dealer in Cleveland on
Tuesday, mine owner Murray Energy Chief Financial Officer Rob Moore told
Blomquist that managers “communicated to our workforce that the attendance at
the Romney event was mandatory, but no one was forced to attend.” He said that
people who did now show up to the event, which organizers say drew 1,500 miners
and family members, were not penalized for their absence.

Blomquist said during the radio show that current and former
employees had called and emailed him saying they feel they were forced to go,
had to take off a day without pay and a roll call was taken, which caused some
employees to believe they would lose their jobs if they didn’t show up.

“Just for the record, if we did not go, we knew what would
happen,” Blomquist read from an email he had received. “It is wrong what we
were made to do because of the outcome if we don’t.”

The Columbus Dispatch reported that Murray Energy Corp.
founder Robert Murray attended the Tuesday breakfast hosted by the Ohio delegation to the Republican National Convention. Murray told the newspaper that the decision to
close the mine was made at the request of the Secret Service.

Murray disputed the report that miners weren’t paid for the
day, saying they were compensated for the hours they spend underground, from 6
a.m. to 11 a.m. The mine was re-opened for a second shift at 4 p.m.

“They were all there voluntarily,” Murray said of the miners
who attended the Romney event, which was also attended by Republican U.S.
Senator Rob Portman and Ohio Treasurer and Senate candidate Josh Mandel.

“You don’t pay people to go voluntarily to a political
event. If I would’ve paid them you would be saying you want it the other way.
This is all a bunch of nonsense,” Murray told The Dispatch. Federal law prohibits the paying of private employees to attend a political event.

Murray blames layoffs at some of his mines on Obama’s
policies. His companies have had a history of environmental and safety violations,
and its Political Action Committee has held fundraisers for and donated to
Republican causes.

Romney’s Ohio campaign spokesman disputed that the Secret
Service had the mine shut down, telling The Dispatch in an email that “It was
Murray Energy’s decision to close the Century Mine, not the campaign’s or the
Secret Services.” His comment echoes what Murray CFO Moore said on the radio
show, that management wanted to attend the event and they couldn’t have miners
underground without management present.

For his part, radio host Blomquist took issue with the fact that
the miners lost out on a full eight hours of pay because of a political event.

“My whole point is that nobody should be pressured into
attending anyone’s political event,” he told The Plain Dealer. “If they shut
the mine down, why should they lose a day’s pay? There are some guys that just
want to go to work, feed their family and go home.”

"Tiny park" could provide green space to drab Over-the-Rhine area

There's not much green in the area of Over-the-Rhine north of Liberty Street, where Vine Street still finds itself home to a slew vacant buildings, vandalism and littered sidewalks. You won't find trees; just the occasional wayward clumps of grass that manage to triumph through cracks in the concrete.

That's an odd dichotomy to correspond with a neighborhood claiming the largest area of historic Italianate architecture in the country.

As efforts to preserve historic landmarks across the neighborhood continue to flourish, others are taking notice of another key element in revitalization that's been neglected: the presence of a safe, green public space that could spark a type of interest in urban renewal more conscious of natural greenery and it. That's been achieved in the area of Over-the-Rhine south of Liberty Street with the expansive Washington Park, leaving its northern counterpart noticeably more drab.

That sentiment is what propelled a trio of designers and architects to mold a proposal for a parklet in front of Tucker's Restaurant, an iconic Over-the-Rhine greasy spoon that attracts both locals and tourists in a somewhat deserted portion of the neighborhood, bereft of the nearby Gateway Quarter's bubbly atmosphere.

Mike Uhlenhake, a local architect, was first introduced to the parklet concept in San Francisco, where the parklet was founded and now flourishes. A parklet is exactly what it sounds like: a small, urban "park" that typically only occupies enough space to displace two parking spots. They're praised as a way to offer a public, green gathering point in urban areas where parks or wildlife are especially lacking; they might include trees, fountains, sculptures or small cafe tables. Uhlenhake sensed the need for something similar in the northern area Over-the-Rhine, which remains largely untouched by the mass renovation efforts taking place just blocks away.

"That stretch [of Over-the-Rhine] really seems to lack life. It feels empty, like no people are ever on the street ... it needs a more homegrown feel," says Uhlenhake. "A place like Tucker's really deserves something like this if they want it."

When the University of Cincinnati Niehoff Urban Studio and the Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati held the D.I.Y. Urbanism Competition this spring, Uhlenhake teamed up with two members of Flourish Cincinnati, Michelle Andersen and Becky Schneider, to create a formal entry for the contest, which can be found here or nestled in the back of Tucker's Restaurant on the rear wall.

Their proposal earned the People's Choice Award, which granted them $250 toward implementing the parklet. They've since partnered with local artist Alan Sauer, who assisted in the creation of Tucker's plot in Cincinnati PARK(ing) Day 2009, which staged a tiny patio in front of Tucker's featuring live music and chalk art.

Today, they're all working on putting together a PowerPoint presentation to present to City Council, which would provide an overview of the parklet, design sketches and an outline of its benefits. Once presented, City Council would just have to agree to give up the two parking spots directly in front of Tucker's; although Uhlenhake isn't exactly sure how much the parklet will cost, he's confident fundraising efforts will be all that's needed to foot the bill. Tucker's customers have been the main point of support, he says — dozens have offered to pledge some kind of help to make the vision come true after seeing the plan on Tucker's back wall.

"This really needs to be a community project. The more people we can get to help, the better."

In-person early voting in Hamilton County has a minimum cost estimate: $18,676. The number represents about 0.009 percent of
the county’s 2012 budget. Unfortunately, The Cincinnati Enquirer
never bothered putting the number in any context, so its story read
like the $18,676, or $406 an hour, will be a big expense for Hamilton
County.

Ohio is a “middle-of-the-road” state when it comes to
early voting. Several states — including New York, a fairly liberal state — have more restrictive voting rules.

Money Magazine named West Chester, a Greater Cincinnati
suburb, in its top 100 list for best small cities to live in the United States. West
Chester was No. 97 on the list.

The Washington Post has a good analysis on why
natural gas produced from fracking could help combat global warming. The
big concern for environmentalists is methane leaks during the fracking
process. If methane leaks are too high and can’t be contained,
natural gas could be worse for the environment than coal, at least in
the short term. The analysis concludes that natural gas could be
positive by itself in fighting climate change, but a much broader plan
that includes more than natural gas will be necessary to reach
scientifically suggested goals. It also points out there’s a lot of
uncertainty behind natural gas and fracking, echoing CityBeat’s recent in-depth look at the issue.

The Ohio Board of Education made two big decisions at its
meeting yesterday. First, it will delay the 2011-2012 report card, which
grades different schools and school districts, until the state auditor
finishes an investigation looking into school attendance reports. The attendance report scandal, which involves schools doctoring attendance reports to earn
better grades, began at Lockland schools in Hamilton County. Second,
the Board has officially launched its national search for a new
superintendent of public instruction. The previous superintendent — Stan
Heffner — resigned after a state auditor report found he was misusing
state resources and advocating for legislation that benefited his other
employer.

Newsweek is getting a ton of criticism for running a cover story this week filled with factual inaccuracies. Among many claims, the story makes the false
implication that the Affordable Care Act increases the federal budget
deficit. The story was written by Niall Ferguson, a conservative Harvard
professor known for being consistently wrong.

Carbon dioxide emissions fell to a 20-year low this year,
largely thanks to natural gas that was made cheaper and more plentiful
due to the fracking boom in Ohio and other states. The news is a
surprising turnaround for climate change activists, but critics
worry that methane — a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide — emitted from natural gas operations could still pose a significant climate
threat. Environmental groups are generally opposed to fracking,
but supporters, like Gov. John Kasich, insist it can be made safe with
enough regulations. CityBeat previously covered the concerns and questions behind fracking here.

The Ohio Department of Education has had a rough year, and
in a few ways, it’s back to square one. On top of the search for a new
superintendent of public instruction, the Department of Education has
had to deal with budget cuts and layoffs, a new Board of Education
member with no college degree or known resume, and the department is now
being investigated by the state auditor.

The White House has announced a $30 million manufacturing
hub for Ohio that will act as a model for the rest of the United States.
The hub will bring together universities and businesses in order to increase growth and collaboration and decrease risk.

Ohio has seen an uptick of businesses requesting to work
in the state, according to Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted. Estimates
show 6,137 new entities applied to work in the state during July, up
from 5,472 during July 2011. The state has also seen 52,728
new business requests so far in 2012, up from 49,460 during the same
January-to-July period in 2011. The news shows some signs of
strengthening economic growth in Ohio.

But Ohio’s unemployment rate barely moved in July. The
unemployment rate remained at 7.2 percent, the same as June’s
unemployment rate, even though 2,000 jobs were added.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. EPA,
Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and energy companies met yesterday
to work out how Ohio will enforce new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.
The new standards will greatly reduce toxic pollutants given off by
power plants, according to the National Resources Defense Council.

Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor claims there’s a funding
shortage for courts. The shortage could make it difficult for some cases
and people to see their day in the courtroom.

Fifty-eight state Republican lawmakers have never broken from the very conservative Ohio Chamber of Commerce in a vote.

Sen. Rob Portman will be speaking at the Republican
national convention. The convention will make Mitt Romney’s nomination
as the Republican presidential candidate official. Conventions are also a
time for political parties to show off their new party platforms.

President Barack Obama is coming back to Ohio next Tuesday. The president will be staying in Columbus this time around.